The Day She Said Yes - A Marauder's Tale
by Gyotso
Summary: When patrolling to castle at night, Head Boy James Potter encounters three curfew-breakers. One with less nefarious intentions, and two that are up to no good... and they're NOT the Marauders! After handling the issue, James Potter is left with a question that finally has the answer he's been waiting for for the past seven years. A Jily Fanfiction based on the meme


_Set in early seventh year, this is the day that Lily says yes._

James had been patrolling the corridors with his wand out most of the night.

The Minister of Magic had declared a state of emergency in the growing war, warning the entire wizarding world of the dark lord Voldemort's growing strength.

James Potter and his counterpart, Lily Evans, were among the handful of seventh year students that had opted to join Albus Dumbledore's secret society in order to defeat Voldemort. However, since they were still in school (and underage for another few months), they were forced to guard the castle at night instead of enjoying traditional Friday night celebrations.

He turned a corner and saw something out of the corner of his eye. He wordlessly disarmed his opponent with an expert stroke of his wand and illuminated the tip to better see the wand flying toward him.

He caught it with the reflexive ability of a seeker, although he was a chaser, and pointed his wand at the frame that he'd disarmed.

"Lily?" James asked in surprise. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I thought I heard something," she lied.

"Three floors down from the dormitory?" James asked disbelievingly. "You're supposed to be on watch _tomorrow_ night."

"I know that, _James_ ," she said, attempting to sound snide. "But I couldn't sleep. You happy?"

"Go back to bed," he said, tossing her her wand. "I've got this tonight. You've got Hogsmeade in the morning."

She averted his gaze, wishing that she'd never mentioned her planned Hogsmeade trip during one of their Head Boy/Girl meetings.

The two had become a lot closer over the past couple months, being the two Heads of Students made that a lot easier. But a huge part of it came from the fact that James was no longer chasing her, hexing Snape, or even being the arrogant jerk he'd been for the first few years they'd been at Hogwarts.

She was supposed to be going to the small village outside Hogwarts with a boy named Marcus, who was in the year below her, but her heart wasn't really in it. Her friend, Marlene, had convinced her to tell James (and go with Marcus in the first place) although Lily couldn't be sure why. She'd suspected that it was because Marlene was under the impression that Lily had a thing for James. But that was the _last_ thing that could ever happen.

"Lily?"

James's soft utterance of her name dragged her away from her own mind and reminded her that he was right in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked, awkwardly touching her shoulder.

"I'm fine, _Potter_." Lily responded, walking off before James could say anything else.

James followed Lily to the Common Room quietly, even though she knew he was still behind her. She could feel his brown, dough eyes on her every step. She felt her heartbeat pound.

A clatter off to the side corridor drew James's attention, although Lily did not hear it. She turned and saw that he'd gone off in another direction, and she walked after him slowly, not wanting to let him see that she was curious.

James saw a knocked over knight's armor on the ground. According to legend, Godric Gryffindor himself wore it in one of the greatest battles in history before wizardkind went into hiding from man. James inspected the armor before scoping out the area, not seeing anyone.

"Homenum revelio," James whispered, seeing three bodies of heat besides his own in the corridor. "I don't know who you are, but step out slowly."

"Saint _Potter._ " A boy with greasy black hair appeared out of nothing, standing beside another boy that had his wand out. "Playing cop to Dumbledore."

"Go to bed, Snape, you too Mulciber." James said firmly. "I'll have you in detention for a month for this."

"Detention," Mulciber cackled. "You think anyone cares about _detention_ anymore Potter? Your savior is an old man. The Dark Lord's more powerful than ever. It would be wise for a pureblood like you to join up before he kills ya."

"I'm not a coward like you two," James snapped. "You're both just afraid of Voldemort."

"You're a fool, Potter." Mulciber raised his wand.

Before Mulciber's curse crossed his lips, James shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

In a flash, Severus Snape whipped out his wand and deflected James's spell.

"Stupefy!" James shouted, Snape easily knocking it away and returning with a silent spell. James managed to block whatever curse Snape cooked up and reflected the curse Mulciber attempted back at the young wizard. Mulciber screamed in pain, distracting James long enough to be disarmed by Snape.

A silent spell and a burst of red light smacked into Snape before he realized what had happened. All he knew while he flew through the air was that James Potter had not been alone in that seventh floor corridor as he'd suspected he'd been. Snape smacked into the wall, totally paralyzed from the expert spell coming from Potter's savior.

"Lily?" James asked incredulously.

"It wasn't exactly a fair fight," Lily pointed out before grabbing James's wand and tossing it to him. "Petrificus Totalus." Her full body bind curse stopped Mulciber from moving as well as blocked whatever curse Mulciber had used.

"Thanks," James said finally as he heard footsteps. "Wait." James redid his reveal spell and identified an invisible presence. "Petrificus Totalus," he whispered, but the spell was blocked by a sudden invisible shield.

"Same team," the cloak fell off the tall boy and revealed James's best friend.

"Padfoot, are you mad? It's after hours."

"Mooney and I were watching—" Sirius caught himself before he said _Marauders Map._ "We knew that Snivellus was waiting for you with Mulciber."

"How could you possibly know that?" Lily demanded.

"I sent him to go get Dumbledore... okay, well more like he said _that_ was a better idea than going to get into a fight."

"Well, we've got this handled," James said. "Go back to the Common Room. Dumbledore'll have to punish you if you're out after hours. Least Remus is a prefect."

"Total buzzkill, ever since old Dumbledore made you Head Boy... BOO." But Sirius caught the hint and returned to the dormitory.

Remus arrived with Dumbledore and McGonagall a short while later. James and Lily explained Snape's attempted attack, Lily offering the theory that it was Mulciber's idea.

"Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked kindly. "Do you agree with this assessment?"

James thought as long and hard as time allowed him, "Snape didn't attack until I tried to disarm Mulciber. He didn't even have his wand out, so I don't know if attacking was the plan." The comment cut him to the quick and made him hate himself for defending a coward like _Snivellus_ on any day. But he was raised to be a man of honor, both by his father and his House. And there was no greater chivalry than the truth, "Snape stopped my disarming spell that I used on Mulciber. I don't know if he'd have done anything else if I hadn't tried to stop Mulciber— but, sir, I thought he was gonna—"

Dumbledore put his hands up to quiet the young man, "Minerva, please contact Horace. As Head of Slytherin House, he will decide the fate of our young Slytherins. In the meantime, we three shall be off to the Hospital Wing. Mr. Lupin, please return to your dormitory."

"Yes Headmaster," said Lupin, scurrying off with the map hidden safely away in his jacket.

Dumbledore pulled out his long wand and waved it, raising Snape and Mulciber as they walked toward the Hospital Wing.

"Are either of you hurt?" Dumbledore asked.

"No Professor," they confessed quickly.

"But I sense you are nervous?"

Lily bit her lip, trying to put it into words.

"I imagine one of them mentioned Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes sir," James admitted.

"I believe it was Mulciber?" He guessed.

"Will he be expelled?" James asked, somewhat hopefully.

"Not likely," Dumbledore confessed. "Our young friends would only that much more quickly join Voldemort. I doubt snapping the wands handed to them by Ollivander would do any good, as any wizard can channel their power through nearly any instrument. No, I think the best way to keep them from crossing over to Voldemort would be too keep them here where we can hope to teach them right from wrong."

"That sounds naive," Lily muttered.

"An old man's curse," Dumbledore replied, not taking the comment personally. "But it wasn't so long ago that I was reminded that a troublemaker can change their ways if you let them." Dumbledore eyed the Head Boy but did not say any more on the subject.

As expected, Madam Pomfrey demanded that she examined Lily and James as well after she deemed Snape and Mulciber well enough to be escorted by Slughorn back to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Detention for a month, Albus," Slughorn said disapprovingly. "I daresay Minevra would light my pants on fire before letting them off with any less. And I've already taken fifty points each. Well done you two."

Once they were released, they went back to the Common Room.

"Are you going to fight him after?" Lily asked.

"Snape?"

"Voldemort," Lily corrected. "Are you going to join Dumbledore's army or whatever?"

"Yes," James promised. "I don't want my kids growing up in a world at war. We need to fight our parents fight when we get out of here. But we have to _win._ "

"I'm gonna join too," Lily decided, although she never imagined for a moment that she would willingly go up against someone like Voldemort. She loathed the idea of people like Mulciber joining up with a mass murderer and wanted justice for all. "I want my future son to have a life where he doesn't have to live every day because he's afraid his family will be murdered."

"Even if I'm in there too?" James asked, somewhat jokingly as he gave the Fat Lady the correct password.

Lily looked at him as they climbed in the portrait and said, "I'd fight by your side any day, James."

James stopped before he made it all the way in and looked at Lily, briefly considering doing the very thing he'd done a thousand times. Except this time, it felt like the one that mattered most.

James spotted a black dog laying by the fire since it was late a night.

"What's a dog doing in here—?" Lily asked.

The dog jumped at their sudden arrival and ran out the door with something in its mouth. Lily couldn't tell what it was, but James got the feeling it was his Invisibility Cloak.

When the Common Room door squeaked open and no one came in, James's suspicion was confirmed. Something (Sirius) pushed him a little closer to Lily before scampering up the steps.

"That was strange," Lily commented. "Well, good night James..."

"Hey, Lily..." James bit his tongue, losing his nerve for quite possibly the first time in his life.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering—" James's heart was pounding so loud that he was surprised it didn't wake up the entire castle. "I wanted to—"

"James, just say what you want to say." Lily told him, her stomach fluttering with butterflies that she pretended to hate.

"I thought maybe we could go to Honeydukes together?" He managed finally. "I know you like those gumdrops that taste like ice cream."

James waited for what felt like at least three eternities before saying anything else.

"If you don't want too—"

Lily interrupted him, "I think that'd be fun."'

"Wait, what?" James asked dumbfounded. "Did you just say—?"

"Yes."

"Wait here!" He exclaimed, sprinting to the stairs and grabbing an eavesdropping Sirius before dragging him to stand beside them. "Say it again."

"Go to sleep, James," Lily said with a giggle, kissing his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning for Hogsmeade."

James barely registered Sirius's waving hand in front of his face.

"You alright there, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

But James Potter had never been more "alright" in his life.

* * *

 **Just a short one-shot of Jily. This is based on the meme and was written with a little AU input to get the ball rolling. I hope you all enjoyed!**

 **I own nothing!**


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